U. bus strikes, injures 88-year-old man in New Brunswick
On Tuesday night, Rutgers bus 204, operating on the REXL route, struck a pedestrian while turning right from George Street onto New Street in Downtown New Brunswick.
A University spokesperson confirmed that the Rutgers Department of Transportation Services is aware of the incident and declined to comment further while the New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) and Transdev, the operator of the campus bus fleet, conduct an investigation.
The NBPD told NJ Advance Media that an 88-year-old male was struck by the bus and is in stable condition at a nearby hospital with injuries to his head and arms.
Gunwoo Shin, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said he was taking the REXL bus to visit a friend on Livingston campus and was standing near the rear doors when the collision occurred.
He said he did not see the collision due to how crowded the bus was but knew of the crash when the bus driver yelled after the collision, and everyone on the bus got silent, allowing him to hear the driver talk on the radio to the dispatcher and describe what happened.
Shin said the driver opened the doors, and everyone then exited the bus. He said police officers arrived within 5 minutes but were unable to free the man from under the bus, and the fire department had to respond to help remove the pedestrian from underneath the bus.
Emergency responders from RWJBarnabas Health, the NBPD and New Brunswick Fire Department responded to the scene of the crash.
"The rest of the first responders came, and then they used small wooden blocks and wedges and then some sort of pump to raise the bus, and then they (were) able to get him out," Shin said. "He wasn't really reacting. I couldn't see him move or talk, but they were able to lift them up and out and get him (in) the ambulance."
